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<b style="margin:0px;outline:currentcolor none medium;padding:0px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";font-weight:normal"><b style="margin:0px;outline:currentcolor none medium;padding:0px;font-size:18px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";color:rgb(0,0,0);font-weight:normal;font-style:normal"><b style="margin:0px;outline:currentcolor none medium;padding:0px;font-size:18px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";color:rgb(0,0,0);font-weight:normal;font-style:normal"><b style="margin:0px;outline:currentcolor none medium;padding:0px;font-size:18px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";color:rgb(0,0,0);font-weight:normal;font-style:normal"><b style="margin:0px;outline:currentcolor none medium;padding:0px;font-size:18px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";color:rgb(0,0,0);font-weight:normal;font-style:normal"><span style="color:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-weight:400;line-height:inherit;text-decoration:inherit"><b style="margin:0px;outline:currentcolor none medium;padding:0px;font-weight:normal"><b style="margin:0px;outline:currentcolor none medium;padding:0px;font-weight:normal"><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:18px;font-weight:400;line-height:inherit;text-decoration:inherit;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";font-style:normal">Friends<span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b>,
in the eleventh chapter of the book of Revelation, the visionary sees
in the heavenly place the Ark of the Covenant—that box in which the
remnants of the Ten Commandments were kept, that sign of Yahweh’s
presence among his people. Immediately after, we hear of a queen who is
about to give birth to a son. As a dragon
waits to devour the child, the mother and child are swept away, and a
great war breaks out between Michael and his angels and the enemy.</b></span></span><br><br><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:18px;font-weight:400;line-height:inherit;text-decoration:inherit;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";font-style:normal">This
sequence is not accidental. <span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b>In today’s Gospel, we see Mary as the true
Ark of the Covenant. She bore in her own womb the Word made flesh and
the very presence of God. When she visits her cousin Elizabeth, the
infant John the Baptist leapt in his mother’s womb, doing his own
version of David’s dance before the Ark.</b></span></span><br><br><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:18px;font-weight:400;line-height:inherit;text-decoration:inherit;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";font-style:normal">But
<span style="background-color:rgb(252,229,205)"><b> Mary, as both the true Ark and the Queen Mother of Israel, is also a
fighter. </b></span>Israel frequently brought the Ark into battle with them,
and the king of Israel and his queen mother were warrior figures.<span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b> Mary
is all about spiritual warfare against <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)">powers and principalities.</span></b></span></span><br><br><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:18px;font-weight:400;line-height:inherit;text-decoration:inherit;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";font-style:normal"><span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>This
terrible crisis we’re passing through in <span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)">the Catholic Church </span>has been a
diabolical masterpiece. it undermines <span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)">the work of the Church </span>in
practically every way.</b></span> <span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>So what do we do? Get in the army of Christ the
Warrior-King and Mary the Warrior-Queen. Enter into the great spiritual
struggle.</b></span> And fight to set things right—not with the puny weapons of the
world but <span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>with the weapons of the Spirit.</b></span></span></b></b></span></b></b></b></b></b>
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